Pokemon Super Mobius Fantasy
by PsycoDragonKiller
Summary: His prophecy was completed. Chaos has been vanquished, and now Palamecia will reset itself for a new Blank to take up the mantle of savior. But, what will happen to the current hero? He shall return home. Home, to the land of mystery dungeons and exploration. Home, to the land of Pokemon.
1. Prologue: A Journey hath ended

How long had he fought? How many lives of people and monsters has he taken in the uncountable days of nonstop adventuring he was subjected to? It wasn't much of his choice in the matter, but he decided that it was better to try and go along with the flows of fate than expend the effort and mental faculties to try and find a way out of it. Sure, he would speculate on possible ways to return to his old home, or at least find a way out of the land of hope and miracles that was Palamecia. Being forced to fight monsters alongside an annoying fairy and a heretic stuck in the past, all while being led around by an enigmatic and mocking voice in his head was in no way the kind of life he would want for all eternity. Everyone expected him to one day grow strong enough to fight the once undefeatable force known as Chaos, and while in the end, he did manage to succeed, he was constantly crushed by the expectations of an unknown number of other Blanks and innocent people.

It was maddening, but there were a few silver linings.

The man once known as Cloud, a first class SOLDIER and unwilling temporary resident of Palamecia, eventually became a rather close friend to the Blank. They spoke little but fought alongside one another like friends who had known each other for years. This man was one of the closest friends that the Blank had ever made and would always hold a special place in his memories.

Speaking of close friends, the fairy named Echo that trailed him on his journey was something like a friend. She was annoying and would not leave him alone, but in a way that was part of her charm. He could hardly stand her most of the time and more often than not brought up his desire to either see her disappear or find a way to get away from her, but over time those once very true statements became small jokes and jabs he would toss out to see her get flustered and angry. It was adorable and was a nice break when the silence of his adventure became too much. Deep down, he wasn't quite sure what he would do without that little fairy to give him side quests and motivation. There were times when he just wanted to sit back and give up, but she wouldn't let him. She'd help him find a reason to stand back up and fight on, even when the stress of the prophecy he was subjected to was practically crushing his spirit.

When once he relied on darker, more selfish motives, she helped him find other reasons to stand tall.

Oh, don't get him wrong, he was still a sarcastic asshole and blunter than a well-worn hammer. It was also likely he would find strength in rage or revenge over any other emotion, but he also fell in love with the idea of adventure and loot, something that Echo was obsessed with to an unhealthy degree. Even with his newfound respect and love for those two things, Echo would always have him beat in that regard. She always found ways to distract him from his path to complete challenges and competitions with other Blanks in the pursuit of loot.

He really needed to find the little thing a therapist at some point...

Sadly, he would not be able to do that now. He would not be able to go on wonderful adventures and compete in challenges with the high-pitched commentary of his tiny companion, but most of all he would never be able to hear her voice again. She would go away forever, along with everyone else he had come to hold as almost-friends. Cloud had used a crystal to return to his own home, the sweet princess had patched things up with Garland and the two now had other things to do besides adventuring with him, and all the other Blanks he'd had the mixed pleasure of conversing with were dying or finding their own paths in life. Everyone and everything would move on without him, and possibly even be reset, and some new Blank will take up his name or another name and be fated to fight and defeat Chaos.

And the reason for this, the reason all of this must be left behind, was very simple: He, the fated Blank, had defeated Chaos. The amalgamation of darkness and whatever the hell it was made of had been vanquished thanks to him, and now it was time to receive his gift. What was this gift, you ask? His long awaited gift, his reward for completing his prophecy and bringing immense hope to this land, was a way home. He'd fought long and hard, made friends and enemies alike, and his gift was to have it all taken away so that he could return from whence he came.

How fucking wonderful.

It wasn't fair. It just was not fair, but when was his life ever fair? He should have expected this. He should have known that he was going to lose everything to have one of his old desires fulfilled. Sure, he once desired a way out of this place, but now he wasn't too sure if he wanted that anymore. In the end, that choice was made for him. He was going home.

He didn't know if he wanted to go home.

Staring at the mesmerizing glimmer of the azure crystal floating above his hands, he came to the decision that he would at least try to live his new life, but with something familiar by his side. He turned and smiled to the fairy floating above his shoulder, a hand moving towards her in a welcoming manner.

"Come with me," he said to her.

"I can't," She said back. She gave him an adorable little smile, but her wings betrayed her. She was sad too. She didn't want her friend to disappear, but most importantly. "I can't live outside of Palamecia. I can't even exist without you. Once you leave, I will disappear. No one will remember me because I could not fight. I will just fade away."

"I know," he whispered. His voice was dulled at this point, the emotion slowly dying from it at each of her words before all that was left was the husk it was at the beginning. "I guess I just held onto too much hope. After all this time giving hope to others, when I finally have my own hopes, they get torn away."

Echo's sad smile was accompanied by a rain of tears as she dove to him and buried her face in his cheek. She really didn't want him to go. He was by her side for so long, he meant so much to her, and in the end, he is torn from her. She would disappear now, and he would probably run the risk of living the rest of his life alone.

She felt a moistness in her hair and gave a wide smile when she looked up at him.

"You're crying," She told him. "I thought you no longer cried?"

"I can't help it," He croaked out. He had stood strong for so long, cried so little, and in the end, he could barely prevent himself from completely breaking down. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." She whispered. The glow of the crystal in his hands grew much more intense while her form started to fade.

It was too bright now. The crystal's blinding glow masked the fading face of his fairy and left him floating in a sea of white, a white he was familiar with yet unable to remember.

Was this the way home?

It didn't matter. He would stand tall, not matter what was thrown his way. He was the Warrior of Light, one of many saviors of Palamecia, and he would live by the golden rule beaten into every Blank.

None shall remember those who do not fight, and Avalon will not be forgotten.


	2. Chapter 1: And a new one hath Begun

**Welcome one and all, to my new story! I apologize in advance but it's kinda hard to grasp the main character in Mobius FF quite right. There's a formula for the right amount of snarky sarcasm and witty insults so don't fault me if I over or underplay that part of him. I would also like to apologize for any other mistakes in the main character's character, but who cares anyways? It's my take on what he would be like and you'll just have to deal with it.**

 **Anyways, I must announce to you all that my other main stories are not dead, and that I've been running into some issues with writer's block and a bunch of other things. I only ask that you all be just a little patient and accept this small offering as my ways of saying sorry for the unacceptably long wait. Hopefuly I'll find my muse while working on this, but if not then at least you're all getting some content.**

 **Now for an important part of all stories on this site: THAT DISCLAIMER!**

 **-I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR FINAL FANTASY!-**

 **Now, please enjoy the beginning of a new adventure!**

* * *

Was this it? Was this his home? An endless sea of white, a white void, a land of nothing.

Perhaps he had no actual home, and this was the void he was pulled from before being given form. He looked around, trying to find something solid, something familiar or at the very least real to let him know he was home. All he was greeted with, was nothing.

Hold on, what was that?

Something dark, something familiar...

Clouds, and beyond that trees and a small waterfall leading to a river. It looked peaceful and blissfully quiet, the perfect place to relax and gather one's thoughts. Judging by the darkness of the clouds and the swaying of the trees, it was likely that a small storm was coming. A simple glance showed that it was likely some of the trees could form a safe haven from the coming rain. Avalon marked the location in his memory and waited to make his way through the clouds. As he drew nearer and nearer, he felt a strange pressure being applied to him. It came from all sides, compressing his body in ways he was incapable of describing. It was like his whole existence was being forced into a much smaller one.

He tried to stay focused. He tried to maintain his consciousness long enough to witness his entry into his new home, but sadly it was not to be. His eyes slammed shut, and all feeling left his body.

* * *

His reawakening was not pleasant, far from it in fact. He felt worse than he did when he first woke up in Palamecia. HIs body still had that strange feeling of compression that was thankfully starting to fade, only to be replaced with unexplained soreness and a myriad of unusual sensations. The light dribbling of rain on skin was missing. Instead, the feeling was muffled, as if he was wearing a fur coat of medium thickness. It wasn't unpleasant. He twitched and moaned and tried to shift into a sitting position until a sudden sharp pain made itself known in his lower back.

He froze, unsure of whether or not he wanted to know what that pain was, then decided it was better to know now than be surprised later with some unknown injury. He slid a hand under his back and felt around, only to come across some kind of fuzzy appendage. It was kind of fluffy but not too much, almost like some kind of dog's tail.

Wait...

Why did he even feel that?

He shot to his feet despite the sudden rush of a multitude of new sensations and pulled the appendage to the front so he could see it. He really wished he didn't do that. When he looked down to see what the appendage was, he saw that his entire body was different. Starting with his chest, a thick coating of black fur formed some sort of vest-like pattern that he suspected was also on his back. His thighs and lower belly were of a light azure that went into a black on his legs and paws. He had honest to God paws instead of feet. HIs hands weren't much different, being a cross between a canine's paw and a human's hand. It had four fingers with one acting as the thumb and on the back of his forearms were metal plates that seemed a natural part of him. Somehow, his body was growing actual metal off of it.

By this time he forgot about his blue furred tail, it wasn't as important once he figured out that he became some sort of canine!

"My face, what does my face look like?" He muttered frantically as he stumbled over to the nearby water. As he made his way over he noticed that he was in the same clearing he saw during his entry into this world. He felt the budding desire to sit back and relax under one of the trees but ignored it in favor of discovering the kind of changes his head had gone through too. The feeling of two extra appendages besides what could possibly be ears was definitely something worth investigating.

He knelt down and stared into the water, his silver eyes flew wide open as he drank in his new figure. His head was shaped like a canine's thankfully. He didn't want to walk around as a mismatched abomination. His pointy blue ears twitched as he smirked at the thought, the idea amusing him for a moment. He quickly moved on to the extra appendages on his head and poked at one, noticing that it was kind of sensitive yet not enough to where it hurt to play with them. He grabbed one and started fiddling with it, experimenting with the strange sensations it was feeding his brain. He could already tell that this was going to be a bad habit.

"Some sort of canine," he thought aloud. "Blue with black, a strange fur combination but oddly appealing to the eyes. At least I'm not some kind of blob." His ears twitched towards the sound of branches settling in the wind yet his extra appendages seemed to stay still. "Must move with a different kind of stimulus. Might be something worth looking into if this is going to be my new body."

He stood up and scanned the clearing, eyes narrowing back to their bored half-lid. Seeing that the clearing was secure he walked back to the trees and found a nice place to sit and wait out the storm, his fur already wet enough from his observations. A small breeze told him that he would probably have to suffer through a bit of cold, but that was nothing new. While this body seemed to lack some of the different tolerances his previous one had his mind was able to keep him warm, in a sense. It was a mind over matter situation, and if there was something he was good at it was mind over matter. Seriously, you need a strong mental tolerance to pain and other uncomfortable sensations when an enemy nails you with a Pain imbued hit.

Speaking of Pain imbued hits, it would be worthwhile to see if his various jobs were still accessible. He closed his eyes and envisioned that strange menu he always did, and found that all of his jobs were seemingly locked away but not reset. He let out a sigh of relief. There was no way in Hell that he was going through the effort of grinding skill seeds or experience again, that was a pain in the ass that he was thankful he no longer needed. Some of the costs for those passives were completely absurd! Still, what did he have to use if those were locked away?

Taking a look through his job cards, he found one that was accessible called the Aura Monk Apprentice. It was the first tier of the Aura Monk job and he had no idea how he obtained it, but that was fine. He should be thankful that he was given a way to defend himself at all. Looking at the stats of the job, he saw that it had a heavy attack and break focus, with a good amount of HP and a rather low magic stat. The defense was pretty high along with a mild crit chance, but the thing that got him was the speed. He was pretty quick for the beginner tier of a job, but that would have to make up for the lack of magic.

Moving on, he went to check his talent cards and saw all of them were locked except for four: Quick Attack, Vacuum Wave, Counter, and Foresight. The moves also had a different leveling system it seemed. Instead of an experience bar and tiers that limited the level, there was a roman numeral one above a bar that would seemingly fill whenever he successfully used the attack.

"So, along with the new job, I get four new abilities with a whole new leveling system. Interesting, yet annoying at the same time. I guess I will have to go through leveling my cards again. Fantastic." He muttered. It was to be expected with the new job since it seemed none of his more powerful cards would work with this job anyways. Annoying it might be, it still gave him a reason to get up and do something. He had no prophecy or fate to live now, at least none that he knew of, and that left a lot of free time that needed filling. Some training wouldn't do him any harm, and it also gave him the opportunity to discover what was hostile and what wasn't in this new world.

But first, he could use a nice little nap.

Settling down against the trunk of the tree, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

"Hey, you alive there little fella?"

Ugh, what? Who's there? Someone spoke to me, but who?

"Hey, I saw that there twitchin'. Wake up now little guy, this isn't the kinda place for a young'un to be sleepin'."

Wh-what? Who is this man talking to? Is he talking to me?

"Oh, consarn it, get up you lazy bones! I ain't leavin' 'till you do! Kids these days..."

Wait, did he call me a kid? Is that why I seem to be so small? Why would I be sent back to my home as a child when I was clearly in my early twenties? This doesn't make sense, but then again not much does anymore. With a sigh of resignation, I opened my eyes and glared up at the one who dared to interrupt my rest. I really needed that after all.

"Ah, there we go! I reckon you're a little groggy just gettin' up an' all, so just take yer time." Said the plant person. I'm not joking, this man looked like a mutated Microchu. "Anyways, mah name is Nolan. It's a pleasure to meet ya. Now, if you could just get up off yer rear we can see about finding your parents, or at least yer home. Ah don't quite know of any settlements other than Serenity Village that're nearby so ah guess that's where we oughta head to."

Serenity... Village? Never heard of it, but then again there's not much I would have heard of since I can't remember anything about this place. Maybe I should make that clear to this man, after all, he is my only source of information for a while from what he told me. I need to take advantage of this while I have the chance.

"Sorry, but I don't know of any villages named Serenity Village. Then again, it would be kinda hard to, lacking any memories of this place." I told him. "Though, I won't turn down a guide. I probably would end up lost without some help."

Nolan seemed taken aback at what I told him and adopted a sympathetic look as he apologized. "Well, Ah'm mighty sorry there little guy. Ah didn't know you lost your memory. Tell me, is there anything you do remember?"

I thought for a moment and decided to give the bare minimum and leave out anything about Palamecia, though it would be worth learning if they knew about humans. I just hope they aren't the bad guys here and end up turning him against me. I smiled at him and said, "I remember my name. I'm Avalon, and I was once a human." I could not have said it any other way if I tried. I really needed some practice conversing with others, and I mean normal others. An annoying fairy, a voice in my head and a brooding knight are not good sources of social interaction.

"A-a human you say? Why you better not be pulling my leg here!" I shook my head and he let out an explosive sigh, eyes wide enough to roll out of his skull. It was kinda creepy actually. "Well ah'll be, an honest to Arceus human! This day's takin a turn for the fantastical if ah do say so myself. Oh well, ah'll be able to hear more out of you on that later, but right now we oughta be bookin' it. Storm's dyin' down and that means it's the perfect time to be on the move. Come on, hop to it!"

I stood up with a grunt and motioned for the man to take the lead. He did so with a pep to his step that seemed to fit him. It was amusing actually since he had such weird legs and a small stem and leaf bobbing on his head. He also decided to make small talk during our walk, and through that, I gathered quite a bit of an understanding of my home.

"First off, ya gotta know what you are!" He began. "You and others like you are called Pokemon, and there's tons of us runnin' around. Heck, some new species are still bein discovered! You, specifically, are called a Riolu. Riolus are fightin' types and that means yer all strong against Dark, Ice, Rock, Normal, and Steel types. Oh, let me explain types to ya."

He went on like this for hours, or at least I assumed it was hours, and during his little talk I learned what exactly he was. Nolan was something called a Nuzleaf, a grass type. I was grateful for all of the information but it almost seemed a little too much to understand at the moment. I just nodded along, listening to him drone on and on about so many different things and filing away the information for later. He talked so much that neither of us noticed how far we had traveled until Nolan came to a sudden stop in an area completely different from where we were before. It was a dense forest, and the path ahead held a bizarre distortion to it. I walked over to it and was quickly held back by Nolan.

"Woah there, little man. That there is a mystery dungeon. They're nasty things, believe me. Once you set foot in there the place becomes a confusin' maze full of hostile Pokemon. Let me take the lead here and show you how it's done." Nolan explained as he quickly stepped into the distortion. I jogged after him and found myself in some kind of large square room. The walls were made of tall and dense grass and the occasional tree, and the sky was easily visible thanks to the complete lack of trees or branches above us.

"Now follow me, we don't wanna cause any trouble with the locals here. It'll make our lives easier to just sneak on by." Nolan said as he directed me down a specific path. "That should lead us out of here."

I followed, eyes scanning everything for any sign of an enemy. Just because these walls seemed sturdy and solid, did not mean something couldn't make its way through and attack us. Nolan seemed to notice my weariness and sent me a grin of approval as he strode on. It wasn't long until we made it to a room full of sleeping Pokemon, and I mean it was full of them. Looking closely I noticed a path around them and pointed it out to Nolan, who seemed rather reluctant to fight this little horde. It didn't seem like too many and there were two of us, but I wasn't sure of their power level and wasn't going to risk it. I had no phoenix downs, so that meant no retries.

Nolan sent me another grin, this one of relieved thanks, and led us along the path around the sleeping horde.

"Just like that, great eyes." He told me. "You can sneak on by the sleeping ones to avoid any unnecessary fights. Best to remember that for later, we might run into more baddies up ahead."

We kept moving, but once we entered a new room my combat senses went into overdrive. Noticing the shadows of a couple Pokemon pouncing on us, I dove forward and knocked Nolan out of the way. We hit the ground with a thud and shot to our feet, him entering a basic boxing stance while I stood in my deceptively relaxed stance.

"Well, this was unexpected, but it was bound to happen some time. Ah reckon you could use a quick review of combat here, so listen close." Nolan ran forward and delivered a well-placed punch to the enemy, which was some kind of two-headed bird named a Doduo. There was a second one that charged me and I dodged, letting its attack slip by as I delivered a quick four hit combo to it. It must have been pretty weak because the last hit broke the break gauge without needing an ability. With it dazed, I quickly rushed in and tried out one of my new abilities: Quick Attack. I felt myself lurch forward as my speed drastically increased and I struck with a devastating right hook. The hit struck the bird's left head and launched it into the other one. They let out a short cry and fell over, eyes replaced with swirls as it quickly faded away.

"Don't worry about them disappearing." I wasn't. "They just wake up outside the dungeon with a ragin' headache and confused beyond belief. I guess yer doin' them a favor by beatin' the stuffing outta them."

That was good to know, I guess. I wouldn't feel too bad if they didn't but it was good to know that I wouldn't be killing everything I fought. We moved on to the next room and saw a large stone staircase leading up to a familiar distortion field.

"This is the way to the next floor of the dungeon. Sometimes they go up, other times they go down. That's one bit of logic that dungeon's got goin' for them. You try scaling a mountain and run into one of these, then the stairs will go up, and if the opposite is true then yer headin down." Nolan piped up with a short bit of trivia. It was interesting, but not worth knowing when we only had one way to go. We continued on to the next floor and I got a nice little lecture on items and their uses.

Again, this was a little too much information at one time, but it didn't matter too much. I learned what I could and filed it away for later.

The next few floors progressed much like the first one, with little else besides the occasionally interjected bit of trivia that I would probably never have a use for. It was nice though, traveling with a companion and fighting. He was definitely more tolerable than Echo. I flinched at the thought of the little fairy and did my best to forget about her. I didn't notice it, but my face slid into the icy dullness it once held earlier in my adventures in Palamecia. Nolan once again noticed such a little change and expressed his concern, to which I replied it wasn't really his business and that I was fine. We burned through the last few floors and walked out into a mildly wooded area overlooking a quaint village situated next to a pond. A small waterfall connected the pond to the river that I probably had fallen asleep next to upon entry to this world. The buildings were simple, blended in well with nature, and were situated so that enough wide open space was available for children to play in. Even from here I could see some children running around and laughing as they played, adults either watching contentedly or going about business in the square.

All in all, it was a perfect little village.

"Well, I reckon we made it, and with time to spare too!" Nolan exclaimed with a grin. "Let's see about gettin' ya a place to lay yer head then you can go socialize. Just try not to leave the village, there're not many safe places around here what with the sudden increase in mystery dungeons."

I followed silently, taking in the sights of the village and its inhabitants. There were so many different kinds of Pokemon here, and each apparently had their own combination of types. It was an amazing sight, but I just walked on. We made our way over to a house placed behind what looked like some kind of cafe or bar, and Nolan led me inside.

"This here is mah home," Nolan announces with widespread arms. "Ah gave it some thought during our little escapade and, given the outlandish nature of yer tale, I decided that I would take you in to avoid any issues. Does that sound alright to you?"

"It does, thank you," I assured him with a tiny smile. "Though that was a bit of a hasty decision on your part. Are you sure it's alright?"

"Ah, don't you worry your little head. We were traveling for more than just a few hours after all. Ah think that's plenty of time to think about this." Nolan told me with that happy grin of his. "Ah can't just leave a child to live on his own, now can I? Just make yourself at home. I have some business to attend to so I'll make you up a bed when I get back. Maybe you could check out the shops or converse with the residents?"

"I think I will. I did manage to find some Gil lying around so I should be able to pay for something."

Nolan looked confused, then realized I was talking about the money and held up one of the large gold coins. He pointed to a large stylized P on it and said, "Ah ain't sure what this Gil stuff is, but if that's human coin then I guess I won't need to explain much to you, except for the fact that this here gold piece is called Poké. Memorize it."

I nodded and took back the coin. I gave a quick count and found I had a good hundred there. I put them back into the bad Nolan gave me near the end of our time in the dungeon and said goodbye as he left the house. I stayed inside for a little bit, looking at the many wooden rooms and getting used to the layout before leaving, and bumping right into a tan fox with dark orange fur coming out of her ears.

"Hiya!" She announces in a loud and rather high voice. It was familiar, too familiar. Just the sound of her voice was enough to make my chest tighten. "You're new here, right? I'd recognize you if you weren't! Come on, let me show you around!" She ran behind me and started pushing me towards the village's square. "So, tell me about yourself! What's your name? What's your favorite color? How old are you? Where did you come from? Are you Nolan's child?"

I could hardly keep up with her enthusiastic talk as she led me to the center of the square. She wouldn't even give me a chance to respond before pointing out the various parts of the town. I paid attention to the parts involving the training booth and the general store, but that was it really. Nothing else seemed too useful to me. Once she finished she ran around me and smiled a wide, heartwarming smile. I could have sworn I saw a sparkle or two in her eyes.

"So, what do you think? Pretty nice, eh? Now come on, I've shown you around and everything but you haven't told me your name!"

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my no- er, snout, and sighed. She was already annoying the hell out of me. Seriously, she needs to calm down for a moment at best. I gave another sigh and told her my name.

"Avalon, huh? That's a cool name! It sounds mystical or something, I really like it. Anyways, it's rather rude of me not to give my name, so here it goes! You may refer to me as wait for it, the amazingly gorgeous, future explorer Echo!"


	3. Chapter 2: God dammit, Goomy!

**Well everyone, here's the next installment in my Mobius/PSMD crossover. You might have noticed, but I've been trying to give actual names to every character. I find it kind of annoying that you can't rename your partners in the games. I mean, just think about it! Everyone in the entire game getting their own, non-species name! IT'S BEAUTIFUL!**

 **Anyways, like with all new stories, I'll need some time to get into my groove and see about making things better. Please, let me know in the reviews what you think I should add or change. I'll accept anything, just tell me what you think with no holds barred. This is one gem of an idea that I wanna see FLOURISH!**

 **Now, thanks for viewing this story. I'm going to be making references to certain events in Mobius FF throughout, but the problem is that the game is still incomplete, so I'm going to be making up a lot of background story. This also means that there will be changes and references made later on when more is added to MFF. I'm also trying to figure out how to merge the card system of MFF and the leveling/attack system of PSMD. Again, any ideas would be welcome.**

 **Alright, I have one LAST NOTE for this chapter, and it's a couple questions I've been dying to have answered. First off, how is my southern accent going for Nolan? Is it OK? I've never really done a southern accent before so I'm not too sure how he's turning out with that. And finally, WHAT THE FUCK IS HIPPOPOTAS? Is she French? Is she Russian? Is she Slovakian? WHAT THE HELL IS SHE? I decided on French until someone can tell me otherwise.**

 **So, on with the chapter. I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

"E-... Echo..." I could barely squeeze out a whisper of her name, my throat and chest painfully tightening at the sound of it, spoken with that voice and that beaming smile. For a fraction of a second I could have sworn I was looking at an adorable and annoying little fairy and not some kind of fox, but that image was completely shattered. My companion was dead. She disappeared as is mandated by one of the many rules of Palamecia, and there was no possible way for her to be brought back.

"That's my name, and you better remember it too," She ordered in a haughtily. It was so reminiscent of her, so much like that little fairy that I couldn't stop my usual sarcastic response from popping out.

"I doubt I could if I tried," I commented blandly with small hints of a smile, like so many times before. "Though who knows, if I try hard enough it might happen."

She actually paused at that, giving me a wide-eyed look that was quickly taken over by a huge smile as she announced with conviction, "Then I'll just have to keep reminding you! I'm not letting you forget my name anytime soon."

Yes, far too much like her.

"Now, let's see what else there is I need to show you." She contemplated aloud. "There's still a lot to this little village if you take the time to look. Maybe I could show you some of the best hiding places? They're useful when trying to hide from angry adults, especially my dad. He always seems to know where I am even when I try my hardest to avoid him!"

"Echo, you stupid child, where are you?" A man's voice yelled from the tiny bridge. Thinking that that voice came from her father, I looked with mild interest at the bridge connecting the two sides of the river, which cut the village straight down the middle, and saw a Pokemon with a large lily pad on its head. Whoever he was, he did not look happy. "Ah, there you are!"

He made his way over to us and glowered at the nervous fox next to me.

"You're the one who trampled all through my lotus pond, aren't you?" He accused loudly, drawing the stares of a few other Pokemon. "It took me a lot of love and attention to get everything looking just right, and you just barged in and ruined it all! I hope you have some way of fixing this, young lady."

She stammered and stumbled about for a good explanation, or a good lie most likely. "I-it wasn't like that at all, honest! I was just having a little adventure and... well..." She suddenly turned to run but another voice cut in from her escape route.

"ECHO! Stop! Right! ZERE!" Screamed the most heavily accented female voice I have ever heard in my life. I looked at the source and saw a tan and brown spotted hippo trotting over. She was panting and muttering rapidly to herself.

"Gah! Madame Claudine!" Echo yelped. Alright, what did she do to piss off this one?

"You! You are ze one that vent into my cave, aren't you?" Madame Claudine announced her own accusation. I still wasn't quite sure what that other one with the lilypad on its head was called. Oh well, probably wasn't that important anyways. "And vat's more! You took ze treasure I had hidden inside, didn't you? That thing was worth a pretty Poke!"

"N-no! I was just... uh... exploring a dungeon! Yeah, I was exploring this dungeon and it just so happened that it... uh... Well, I... Oh, you know how it is. After you go through all that work of exploring a dungeon, you're entitled to some loot afterward... right?" After delivering such a flimsy lie, Echo tried to make a break for it by taking a right, only to be stopped by a loud and very stern sounding male voice. It was the kind of voice that a father took when they were getting annoyed with their child's shit and were telling them to stop. I turned to see the next resident with grievances to voice and saw a large blue turtle walking on two legs with a pair of long flippers for arms.

"Stop right there, Echo!" The turtle commanded with all the authority of a pissed off parent. Yeah, this had to be her father.

"P-pops!"

Called it.

"Oh, ol' man Arthur! Maybe you can help put this trouble maker in her place?" The lilypad wearing Pokemon asked though it was more of a rhetorical question since everyone already knew he was going to join in with the growing mob.

"So, this is where you have been loitering, child?" He asked, but wasn't expecting or waiting for a response. "What about your chores at home, eh? Playing hooky again to wander around, EH?"

"N-no way pops! I have a legitimate reason this time!" Echo cried, "Honest!"

"And I know you've been snacking on the Oran Berries from my field again! Don't you try to deny it, either!" He continued, not even caring about what possible reason she had dreamed up on the spot.

"I have not!" She shot back.

"You have!"

"Have not!"

"I want the truth from you child!"

"Yeah, I did eat them! They were delicious, too!"

Absolutely no shame. Again, this was an exact clone of the fairy Echo, except most likely younger. A loud cacophony of angry voices was heard further down the trail that signaled the rapid arrival of a mob of pissed of Pokemon. Echo looked positively terrified as she turned and made a break for it, almost knocking me over in the process and barrelling down the trail I took into the village screaming.

"After her, don't let her escape!"

I quickly dashed out of the way as a huge group of Pokemon came rampaging past. All of them looked beyond angry and I found myself amused at the sight. If the fairy were here she would have probably had a horde after her as well, provided they could actually see and hear her. I stood there for a little bit watching them chase after the mischievous fox, then decided to pay a visit to that store. Since I lacked any of my healing cards and there were no Blanks around to borrow from, it would be a good idea to stock up on restoratives.

I walked up to the counter of the general store and knocked on the wood to get the attention of the green lizard setting up some stock. He made his way over while polishing some kind of orb and barely gave me a look as he gave me what I expect to be the usual store greeting.

"Hello, and welcome to Stan's General Store. What can I get for... hold up. A child?" He looked down at me in confusion. "What do you need, little guy? I haven't seen you around before. You new here?"

"Yeah," I said as I fished out the bag of coins. "I just got here a few minutes ago. What healing stuff do you have in stock?" He looked taken aback a moment and looked me up and down, seemingly wondering if he should sell to me or not. "I'm here for business. Will my age be a problem?"

He flinched at the question and looked down at the bag of money I had with me. I made a point of picking out a coin and flicking it into the air. He sighed and smiled down at me.

"It's fine, I'll do business with anyone who has good coin on them. I'm just amazed that a child like you is here looking for stuff like that." He laughed and held up some kind of seed. It was pretty big and seemed almost as if it had a fire inside it. "Kids usually wanna buy the dangerous stuff like Blast Seeds for pranks and other dangerous activities, so I don't do business with them that much. But, if all you want are restoratives and basic support items then I'm more than willing to do business. Have anything in mind?"

I looked at his stock confused, unsure of what exactly did what and how useful it would be. There was a rainbow of berries, blue orbs differing in size and hue, apples, scarves and other articles of clothing, and several other things. I didn't have the slightest idea what those strange disks would even be useful for beyond as some bizarre accessory. Stan must have noticed my struggle and decided to help out. He bent down under his desk and pulled out a small box.

"Here, kid, this might be something you'll want. It's a bit pricey but nowhere near the cost of our more rare stock. It's an adventuring kit: a collection of basic equipment that new adventurers use to get started and veteran ones use as a quick restock. It's worth two hundred. Think you have enough for it?"

I dug around and counted out my coins, finding I had just enough to buy it, but doing so would leave me with ten coins. I gave it some thought and decided it would be a good purchase. I did plan on staying active anyways, and if all dungeons were like that last one then they'd be a good place to grind out some levels and collect loot. We made the exchanges and I tossed the box into my bag, the wooden container somehow managing to fit inside without any noticeable expansion of the bag.

Huh, neat little thing. Definitely going to be using this a lot.

We said goodbye to each other. He seemed like a decent person and I could definitely see myself doing a lot of business with him in the future. Anyway, the next few minutes were spent with me walking around trying to get my bearings and listen in on a few conversations. Nothing really interesting was happening until I made my way over to two other kids. One was a pink deer while the other was some kind of snail creature in armor.

Seriously, these Pokemon were absurd creatures.

"Benny did WHAT?" The pink deer asked in a dangerously low voice. By the way that the snail seemed to cower under the intensity of her voice, I assumed that something happened to this Benny and that snail had something to do with it.

"Yeah, well, he insisted on going..." The snail said. He sounded unsure of what he was going to say, but I couldn't tell how much of that was fear and how much was him quietly swooning at her.

"No more excuses, Terrance! Now, tell me the truth. You and Dannen pushed him into it, didn't you?

"Th-that's not fair, Mary," Terrance whined pitifully. "He's the one who said he wanted to go! How can you stand there and blame us?"

"Quite easily, actually." She told him in the dullest and most sarcastic tone I've heard outside of myself. "You two are always teasing poor Benny, after all. Some day things will go too far and there it'll be too late for sorries then! Honestly, I don't know what you guys find so amusing about picking on that poor little dragon."

"I-I know that! There's no need to fuss so much, really Mary."

"You'd better. Now, show me the way there. Right. Now."

Terrance nodded quickly and bounced out the gate and down a path towards a dark wooded area. It seemed like a rather foreboding forest and with how close it was to the village I would have thought someone would put up a fence to try and deter any curious children. Speaking of the forest, I wonder what would happen with those kids. Maybe I should go and help them out? I have nothing better to do and if that Benny is lost in the forest then most likely some mystery dungeon was involved. Dungeons mean combat, which means experience and loot. Yeah, it would be a good idea to pay that place a visit, and I might a well lend them a hand while I'm at it. One of them might be generous enough to reward me for helping out.

Yeah, that sounded pretty good. Get some experience and loot, and while I'm at it help some scared little kid.

With my decision made, I quickly followed the path those two took.

* * *

"What? He still hasn't come out yet?" Mary screamed at them. "Are you kidding me?"

"Yeah, no we're not." Said some kind of black and white bear cub. He was chewing on a leaf of some kind that hung out the corner of his mouth, not caring at all about the franticness of the deer. "It's been a pretty long time, too. I so knew he was too much of a wimp to do it."

"No surprise there," Terrance piped up with a tiny laugh. "He should've admitted what a weak coward he was and just kept his mouth shut."

"But he had to go and talk big like he could handle this kind of place." The cub continued with a grin at his friend. "He was boasting, saying that he'll show us that he was no coward, which he totally is. That kinda talk is gonna land you in some serious trouble if you can't back it up, and there was no possible way he could back up a claim like that! It's all his fault he's in this mess now."

"He's probably huddled in a ball somewhere in here, petrified and pouring tears!" Terrance roared with laughter at the scenario, his friend joining him, both nearly in tears themselves at the thought. Though, those tears didn't strike me as ones of regret or worry, or any emotion other than amusement.

"You two are so mean!" Mary growled at them. "Benny isn't even the same age as us yet, so of course he's going to be scared! He hasn't had the time to get stronger like us."

"Hey, he's the big talker here. He just got what was coming to him." The cub shrugged unrepentantly. "I figured it was my job to teach him how scary and unforgiving the world can be, and Terry agreed with me. Think of this as a hard life lesson."

"And if something happens to him, what then?" Mary challenged them. "What will you do then? Huh? Laugh as say sorry?" She hung her head with an explosive sigh. "I'll go in after him. Arceus knows neither of you will."

"Woah, wait up there Mary!" Terrance yelped as he quickly blocked her path along with the bear cub. "What if something happened to you in there?"

"Yeah, we can't let something happen to our idol!" The cub fretted as he took a step towards the deer. "There's no way we're letting you in there!"

"Are you kidding me? Fine then, you two go in after him, and he better be OK too!" She commanded them, though it wasn't too likely they would listen to her.

"Y-you want us to go into... the Foreboding forest?" The cub stammered. He was obviously uncomfortable with the thought.

"It sounds like that Benny guy isn't the only coward here," I spoke up. The three kids jumped. It was pretty funny to see those two pompous kids so easily shocked. "Then again, I shouldn't be too surprised at that."

I walked over to them and stood with my weight on my left leg, arms crossed and a brow raised. The two bullies spluttered out excuses that I didn't really feel like hearing. I turned to the deer and she smiled happily at me for some reason, likely asking me to look for Benny.

"Oh, thank goodness someone else showed up. Listen, I know this might be asking a lot but these two won't let me pass and will probably prevent me from telling anyone about this. Do you think you could hurry back to the village and find someone willing to help poor Benny?" Mary pleaded.

"I could," I started with a shrug, "But I don't really feel like heading back right now. How about you three just tell me how far in this Benny is and I'll help him out for you?"

They seemed genuinely shocked at my proposal, but Mary seemed to be more pleasantly shocked.

"You'd do that? Oh, thank Arceus someone actually cares about that poor dragon. Thank you, thank you so much!" She sighed in relief. Wait, what made her think I cared? He was an idiot for running in there in the first place.

"Hold up." I quickly interject. "I never said I cared about him. I've never met him and he's an idiot for running in there in the first place." They all looked taken aback at this, though it seemed the two boys were more amused and in agreement with me. "I was just passing by and heard about what happened. I admit it's interesting, but I'm more interested in exploring this forest than saving some scared little kid that made a dumb decision."

"Oh..." Mary mumbled, downcast at my response. "Well, I guess that's better than nothing. Benny is a Goomy. They aren't very common in this area and since you're new you might not know what they look like. His body is shaped like a bit of a slug and is two shades of purple with a large green dot on each cheek." She then turned to the two boys and glared at them. "Ask these two how far he went in. Neither one told me. I would assume some clearing in the center of the forest but I could be wrong."

"You're right about the clearing," The cub said with a chuckle. "All the way in the deepest part of the forest. Terrance and I put a paper there for him to sign his name. You know, as proof that he actually made it all the way and didn't just chicken out or get beat out of the dungeon less than halfway through. By the way, the name's Dannen. If you're brave enough to face this forest and save Goomy, then I might just acknowledge that you too could be a tiny bit brave."

Where have I heard something like that before? Oh yeah, innumerable times back in Palamecia. I guess some things are never going to change. I just nodded at him and walked down the path into the woods. No reason to hurry since there didn't seem to be any actual danger or time constraints to follow. Maybe I could take a more scenic route, and grind out a few levels against the enemies here like I intended to do at the beginning.

I should do that. My abilities are still just on their first level and my job is stuck at level six at the moment. Speaking of my job's level, it seems that I level it up only by fighting with it instead of boosting the power of the ability cards. After fighting for so long with jobs beyond level three hundred it was a little unsettling being put back at such a low level, and what's more unsettling is that I don't even know what the maximum level was that I could achieve in this world.

Yeah, I really needed to train.

* * *

First floor and off to a strong start, it seems. The first enemy was a little difficult since it had a decent resistance to my attacks. It was times like these that having a high break stat helps. The enemy, some kind of white dog, charged me right when I entered the dungeon. Another followed right behind, leaving me in a two on one fight with weak skills and no weapons.

My first move was to try out the only status ability I hade, Counter. A quick cast of this ability and I immediately knew it would be one of the best ones I could have chosen to start with. I was hit immediately afterward and watched as a harsh burst of energy impacted the dog, hitting it with the same force it hit me with. I read the description for the ability earlier and knew it only worked with physical attacks, so any spells would just pass right through. I once again had something to be thankful for since neither of them seemed to know any spells that could bypass my Counter.

That didn't mean they stopped their assault. Far from it, actually. They charged as one and hit me at the same time, knocking me back through the air for a few feet. I spun and landed in a crouch, my mind racing over several possible ways I could combat them. I tried out a Quick Attack and grimaced at the little damage it did. If that move wasn't as effective, then that must mean that either my magic stat really was extremely weak, or that ability didn't use my magic stat at all. It was described as a physical type of attack when I read about it, so did that mean it got a boost from my attack stat? If that's the case, then does vacuum wave deal magic based damage and draw from my magic stat since it's a special move?

Hm~... an interesting concept. I guess that's just one more difference between my home and Palamecia.

I cast Vacuum Wave and noticed a considerable difference as the dog staggered under the well-placed blow. That was all the proof I needed. Moves labeled as special did magic based damage and pulled from my magic stat, and those labeled as physical did physical damage and pulled from my attack stat. I guess the idea of mages, warriors, and rogues wasn't too ingrained here. Someone who you think would be a mage might be just as proficient in the use of physical skills as well.

Stop, I shouldn't focus on that right now. This is a fight, not a planning session. I dove away from another attack and struck with Vacuum Wave, tying together a three-hit melee combo before backing off and casting Vacuum Wave again. The dog stumbled and swayed like it was drunk before falling over. It seemed that as a fighting type move, an element I wasn't aware even existed until Nuzleaf told me all about it, practically nullified their defenses as normal types. That was good, it meant I would be able to end this fight much sooner.

I spun out of the way of another attack and struck a two-hit combo before backing off and firing two Vacuum Waves, breaking the enemy's guard and allowing me to pile on the punishment, thus ending this fight and giving me time to check the rest of my job and skills. I got lucky having only two enemies to fight now, and they were weak to one of my attacks, which was a major bonus. Their physical defense and type disadvantage made them easy to deal with, though I had a feeling that was because I was just on the first floor. It was possible that the later floors would have a spike in difficulty that would force me to drag out my fights a little more, and I didn't have the advantage of element drives to boost my defenses. Now that I thought about it, trying to manage all those drives in the middle of combat where moves of all types could be tossed at me would be a nightmare. I think there's at least triple the number of elements here than back on Palamecia. All of this brings me back to another weighty thought...

I so wish I had a weapon. Even my Blank Blade or Fatal Masher would have been welcome despite them being some of my weakest weapons. Sadly, all of my weapons seem to have been locked just like everything else from Palamecia. It's possible that I can regain them later, but even that wasn't a certainty. My current job doesn't even have any weapons to unlock or enhance, unlike the other ones. The only thing I can hope for is that I won't need any weapons and that my abilities would prove strong enough to act as a replacement.

I smacked my cheeks a few times and growled. Getting lost in thought out in a hostile environment like this, where anything could jump out and attack at any time, was in no way a smart decision. I haven't even been here a full day and I'm already experiencing changes, and these ones are not welcome. Now, Avalon, stop talking to yourself and start moving. Just like in Palamecia, I must keep moving and fighting. At least for now.

Next room, another fight, and much more experience with my new body. That's what I need, experience. This time some kind of brown deer, a creepy looking mime creature, and a floating pink thing. Seriously, what is that thing? It looks like some kind of bird or something... Either way, they were in my way and I needed to eliminate them.

I started off with Counter, an ability that quickly became one of my favorites. The deer charged me and launched me towards the entrance to the room where I quickly rolled to my paws, firing off a pair of Vacuum Waves at the deer while getting up close to the pink thing. From point blank, I unleashed a Quick Attack combined with an uppercut launching the two of us into the air a little. That one attack utterly decimated the thing's break gauge and opened it up to a quick barrage that I didn't get to fully capitalize on. The mime struck from the side and gave the pink thing enough room to recover.

"Hmph, seems I'm going to need to pick up the pace." I dodged under a strike from the pink thing. It was some kind of thick mist full of sparkles that could have done some serious damage if it hit. That's how fairy type moves work against my type, I think. Either way it just goes to show who was the bigger threat here. That mime must be a psychic type and the pink thing was a fairy type. The first target is the fairy, then the mime is next. That deer could wait.

Or not...

I held up my arms to block a blow from the deer and grimaced at the harsh impact. The damage from that hit was returned thanks to Counter and I followed it up with a Vacuum Wave and a left hook that laid out that enemy rather easily. Type advantage, I thank you once more. A sudden heavy hit to my side nearly knocked me over and put my on my knees, and I found myself staring up at the emotionless eyes of the mime. That pink fairy must have hit me with that mist and the mime used that to get closer.

Great.

It raised it's hand and was about to strike, but I was faster and swiped its legs out from under it. With the mime on the ground, I shot to my feet and laid a Vacuum Wave right into its face, doing a little more than simply dazing it. A punch to the side of its head had it knocked out completely and fading away.

Perfect, two down and one to go.

The fairy wasn't staying idle, however, and right when I stood up I had to dodge out of the way of another blast of mist. I used a Quick Attack to close in with some decent damage and strung together a four-hit melee combo that managed to knock it out.

It took far too long to eliminate these enemies. The fairy seemed to have a very weak break gauge so I would have to exploit that early on, but only after slowing or otherwise avoiding the other enemies. Let me reiterate, this was far too different from Palamecia. The most important difference is my lack of any status moves and support moves besides Counter. Back in Palamecia, I had at least two warrior cards, or a rogue card in the case of my 1st SOLDIER job, that could completely annihilate the target's break gauge. That left room for another to lessen their defense and the last card would do heavy damage. That card would probably have been one of the cross cards. Two heavy hits with damage limit break were amazingly useful, especially when I borrowed a card that enhanced my magic.

Oh well, I'd just have to keep leveling my current abilities until I figure out how to get better ones. In fact, since I'm in no hurry to get out of here, there shouldn't be anything wrong with taking the time to explore this floor for a bit. There's gotta be some loot here and a lot more enemies to defeat. I moved on to the next room and began training.

* * *

Eight floors. Eight full floors of nothing but fighting and loot gathering, totaling up at a good amount of experience in both the numeral and mental senses. I did enhance my moves and my job gained a couple levels, and all the while I learned how to move most effectively with my body. To top it all off, I learned a useful move called Force Palm that had a chance to paralyze the enemy. I replaced Foresight since I could just rely on Counter to try and defeat a ghost type, but at some point, I'll need to find another ability to use against them. Anything would do, but as it is I won't be doing much if I ever encounter one.

But, that's neither here nor there. There were no ghost types in this dungeon and I could always get some of those Blast Seeds from Stan. If I do enough business with him I should get him to sell me some. So, at the moment, my concern should be this little dragon-slug hybrid thing cowering in the back of the clearing. He was shaking and sobbing and generally having some kind of breakdown. As I made my over to him I noticed a piece of paper with writing on it which I assumed was his. Huh, so he actually managed to do it. Good for him, I guess.

"Hey are y-..."

"AWAHAA~!"

"Um..."

That was probably the wimpiest scream I have ever heard leave a guy's lips. Benny squished himself further against the tree. Seriously, that little slug is pathetic. I'm not even making a threatening move at him and he's acting like I'm about to stab him.

"Uh, are you alright there?" I tentatively asked. He stopped sobbing long enough to look up at me with wide eyes shining with tears. Alright, come on man! Stop crying, you look dumber than you already are! "Hello? Can you even understand me?"

"Y-you aren't here to... hurt me?" He stuttered out. Why would I be here to hurt him? He's not in a dungeon anymore, which is bizarre in itself. I mean really, how is it this single clearing isn't in a dungeon but the distortion marking the beginning of one is surrounding it? I am failing to see the sense in this, but I should probably get used to that. Knowing my luck I'm going to be saying that about a lot of stuff in the future.

"No, why would I? You don't look like you'd have anything valuable on you and I seriously doubt you'll try to attack me." I walked over to him and gave him a light kick. "Now get up, your friend Mary is looking for you."

"Meredith knows I'm here?" He wondered. "How did... Oh, she must have pestered Terrance. He caves rather easily." I'm not so sure you should be the one to talk like that. "Thank you for coming, really. I... I'm not good with dungeons. They terrify me, sort of like that scowl on your face. If you're saving someone, you shouldn't really scowl like that... It's... intimidating..."

Am I scowling? I never noticed. Then again, I always seemed to be scowling or expressing annoyance of some kind back in Palamecia. Boredom was also an expression I frequently showed as well. I guess the expressions just stuck coming here.

"Sure, now do you want to leave or not? We seem to have burned a lot of daylight with this little debacle." I urged him on as I grabbed his signed paper. "You do want to see the looks on their face when they see your signature, right? Well, let's not keep them waiting."

Benny gave me a smile and followed me out of the clearing and back through the dungeon. I avoided contact with any enemies thanks to the various wands I collected in the dungeon. There weren't many, but then again there weren't many enemies either. We made it back in a fraction of the time it took me to get through the first time, and we were greeted by that same trio I saw coming in.

"Took you long enough," Dannen observed in a snarky tone when he saw us coming. "I thought you chickened out or something. What, did you get lost in there?"

"Far from it. I was just enjoying the scenery, so to speak." I replied. I pulled out the paper and handed it over to them. "I found this with him. You might be interested to know that he managed to make it through."

Dannen quickly unfurled the paper and stared at the frantically written script. It had to have been Benny's name since the cub seemed to deflate a little as he read it. He showed it to Terrance and they whispered to each other. They suddenly broke into loud laughter.

"It does, doesn't it?" Dannen barely got out between laughs. "Benny, dude, your writing sucks!"

"I do not," Benny cried indignantly.

"Yeah, it does! I bet you were trembling in fear while writing this!" Terrance cried as he tried to calm himself. "Oh, sweet Arceus this is amazing. Come on Dan, let's show everyone."

"Yeah, they'll get a good laugh outta this too! Come on Terry, let's go." Dannen said as he strutted back to the village, Terrance bouncing along beside him. Benny wilted as they ran off.

"They're never going to let me live this down..." He whined sadly. Mary nudged him comfortingly and smiled at him.

"That's fine Benny, they would have found something else to make fun of you for anyways." She told him. "But, I have one question for you."

"Yeah?"

"What in the name of all that is sane were you thinking?" She yelled as she began to scold him. "You know you aren't the bravest or dungeon savvy in the village. What possessed you to just run into that dungeon without the necessary items? I told you once, and I'll keep telling you until it sticks: you have no obligation to do as they say or to prove them wrong. They're bullies, everyone knows that. Just do what Echo and any others who have to deal with them do and ignore it."

"I tried, but they wouldn't stop and I just caved." Benny wilted further as he said, "I'm not trying to cause anyone any trouble. Sorry for worrying you, Mary..."

Mary let out a loud sigh and pulled him into a kind of hug, assuring him it was fine. "I know they like to target you. I'm just glad you're OK." She said, "And we have this one to thank for that. Seriously, thank you. I know you didn't want to do this, but thank you nonetheless. You've done a great thing."

"No problem, just make sure to keep your eyes on him next time," I said as I pointed at the still teary dragon. "Make especially sure to watch him. The next dungeon might not be so forgiving and conveniently placed."

I waved as I made my way back to town, once more lost in thought. This time, I was wondering what I was going to do today, but as I made it out of the forest I noticed that the sky was rather dark. Since when did the time pass so quickly? It was just a little after midday when I went in. I couldn't have seriously been in there for that long, right? Damn, I guess the rest of my day is shot now. I guess I'll have to return home and see if there's any food for dinner. It also never crossed my mind, but would Nolan really care how long I was away for? It is nearly night time now.

Oh well, I'm sure he won't care too much. It's not like I have anywhere else to go, so he should know I won't try to go too far.

* * *

"Where in the sam hell did you wander off to? It's practically night out now!"

Well, it seems he was a little more concerned than I expected.

"I was just seeing the sights and interacting with some of other children," I told him, deciding to just tell him everything before someone else tells him and he gets after me for that too. "Someone got lost in a dungeon near the village and I decided to help him out. It was that little dragon slug, Benny."

"Oh, that little tyke? Gosh darn it, what did that child get himself involved in this time? 'Poor little guy always seems to get the short straw, especially with those bullies." Nolan scratched his chin as he prepared dinner and simply shrugged. "Well, if you waltzed on through the dungeon ah think you did, yer gonna be just fine on yer own around these parts. The other dungeons that close to the village ain't much more difficult than that one." He flipped the pan full of sizzling fruits and veggies and tossed in a pinch of spice. "And it's not like ah don't understand the desire to see the wider world. Just be careful on any other escapades and you should be all right. Just try to get back before it gets too dark out, lotta unsavory types show up then."

"Alright, I'll be sure to keep that in mind," I replied in acceptance with his small rule. "It's not like I have the energy to be out too much later in the night anyways. Even I need sleep from time to time."

"That you do, now eat up. Ah picked up some spices from Stan earlier today and ah've been dyin to try them out. Lemme know what you think." He passed me a bowl of spiced fruits and vegetables and I dug in. The sweet and sour combination of the berries seemed to conflict with the vegetables and the spice wasn't doing it any favors. All in all, it tasted pretty horrible. I let him know as much and he hung his head in defeat.

"Relax, it's edible and that's enough for me." He perked up at that and I continued, holding up a fork full of the food. "It must be high in nutrients at least, which is great after a heavy workout like training in a dungeon. Other than the strange combination of flavors and texture it serves it's purpose. I wouldn't mind too much if you made more of it in the future."

He seemed much more enthusiastic now and grabbed a plate for himself. He sat down across from me and we shared what happened during the day. It was pleasant, getting to sit down with someone and enjoy a meal, even if it was a rather poorly made meal. I couldn't cook to save my life so I shouldn't be criticizing him, but he did want an honest reply and I'm nothing if not honest. Well, most of the time, and extremely blunt too.

"So, while ah was out ah decided to enroll you in the local school," Nolan announced. I gave a jolt and choked on my food for a second before managing to swallow it and glare at him from over the table. "Oh, don't gimme that look. You said so yerself that you don't know too much about this place. What better way to learn than in the classroom? You start tomorrow and ah don't wanna hear any back talk about it neither."

Prick. He didn't even let me have a say in it. Sure I might have said yes just to have an excuse to learn more about my home and how things work here, but he could have at least asked me first! Oh well, that's tomorrow and right now is as good a time as any to go to sleep. I was finished eating we seem to have exhausted tonight's conversation topics, so all that was left to do was sleep.

I went into the room he set up for me to sleep in and found a pretty nice straw bed waiting for me. I wasn't really expecting a bed like the ones in Sarah's castle so I wasn't too disappointed. Once I sat down in the bed I realized that it was far more comfortable than it looked. In fact, I was barely able to keep myself awake. Stop it, me, stop trying to stay awake and think right now. Just close your eyes and... sleep...


End file.
